National Park Service archaeologists and museum technicians from the Southeast Archeological Center spent the day on Friday at the SciGirls summer camp at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee.

SciGirls is a summer camp for girls entering 6-9th grade. The camp was designed to inspire middle school and high school girls to pursue careers in science. For the last six years, the Southeast Archeological Center has spent a day at the camp teaching girls about archaeology.

To get the day started, we give a brief lecture about the basics of archaeology and the process of doing archaeological research. The girls then work through a series of activities designed to provide hands-on application of archaeological research and methods. Girls in the SciGirls I camp document a simulated archaeological site that has been looted. The girls record evidence of illegal digging, use a mathematical formula to calculate the volume of excavated dirt, photograph evidence, and collect artifacts on the surface of the site.

Next they work in the laboratory to conduct preliminary analyses on the artifacts, identify time periods of site occupation, and determine the number and age of human remains (all the human remains are reproductions).

For SciGirls II, they get to explore the science of archaeology. They learn about stratigraphy, or layers, in a site and how these layers help archaeologists understand the relationships between artifacts. They also learn about dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) and how radiocarbon dating works. They learn in-depth methods for studying human skeletal remains and learn how artifacts are cared for after they’re excavated.

Both groups are asked to do some critical thinking to tie together the concepts they learn.

The SciGirls have proven to be excellent scientists - they ask great questions about methods, research, and how we know what we know about the past. Girls in the Tallahassee area who are interested in participating in the SciGirls summer camp should visit https://nationalmaglab.org/education/k12-students/summer-camps/scigirls-summer-camp.